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South America Morales suspicious of US-top brass visit to troops

BOLIVIA’S President Evo Morales has condemned the visit by a top US military commander to US and Colombian troops stationed in the western Colombian city of Tumaco.

Mr Morales said that his government rejected “the suspicious presence of the head of the US Southern Command” Admiral Kurt Tidd.

“Any imperialist military threat against peace in sister Venezuela and our region will be thwarted by the dignity, sovereignty and unity of our democratic peoples,” he said.

Adm Tidd’s visit came as it was revealed on Sunday that the US would build a new military base at Posadas in north-eastern Argentina, near the borders with Paraguay and Brazil.

Argentinian Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said both Brazil and Paraguay would be involved in an “analysis centre” on the base, supposedly to monitor drug trafficking.

Argentina’s former ambassador to Britain Alicia Castro said that people should look at Mexico and Colombia — where murders by drug traffickers are common and criminal groups have political influence — to see how US “anti-narcotics co-operation” works.